Britain First leadership jailed for hate-crimes against Muslims

Jayda Fransen (C), deputy leader of 'Britain First', during a demonstration held by the group in central London, Britain, 01 April 2017. The group were joined by a separate demonstration from the 'English Defence League' group during a march to Westminster following the recent terror attack on Westminster Bridge and Parliament.

Britain First leadership jailed for hate-crimes against Muslims

The leaders of far-right extremist group Britain First were sentenced for anti-Muslim hate crimes on Wednesday.

The leader, Paul Golding, and deputy leader Jayda Fransen will serve 18 and 36 weeks respectively. Golding was convicted for religiously aggravated harassment. Her deputy, Fransen, was found guilty on three counts of the same offence.

The two were arrested in May 2017 after distributing leaflets and posting videos during a rape trial, where three Muslim men and a teenager were facing rape charges. They were accused of raping a 16-year old girl.

The campaign included Fransen going to the home of one of the accused and shouting racist abuse.

According to the judge, the two far-right activists were campaigning to ” draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants.”

The Britain First group has become famous after the US President, Donald Trump, retweeted some of Francen’s posts on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Fransen said this was a “sad day” for British justice. Like PEGIDA in Europe, Britain First often claim they are fighting a cultural war with Islam.